Hey guys,
just wanted to share a big thing that's happening in Egypt right now - a revolution, as much one as one can get. Basically, people are sick of President Mubarak's rule - he rules like a dictator (secret police, oppression, etc), and the country has been under martial law for 29 years and all the rage that built up over the years has finally spilled out.

I've been following it very closely for the last day (literally monitoring everything that happens live). Earlier today their internet was completely shut down (following the already blocked Twitter, Facebook and Youtube), and a few hours later mobile communications were shut down as well. The government didn't want people to communicate, being a 21st century revolution and with the rise of social networking that is where the revolt was majorly organized.

But today was Friday, which is the Friday prayer (during which Christians were protecting the Muslims), and after this prayer the people really raged out on the streets. The police also fired tear gas during the prayer upon them and afterwards.

Plenty more things happened all leading up to the president finally showing up and promising a new government as of tomorrow, dissolving the current one completely. Yet he failed to impress as the people called for his leave directly, and in this case he will still be in power - so it's far from over. Things have calmed down for now - people need to sleep - but they'll sure resume tomorrow. I'll be updating this thread with info whenever it comes.

Barrack Obama also addressed the issue (pretty late though), claiming he has spoken with the Egyptian president and told him that he has a big responsibility on his hands and that he has to deliver (personal note - everyone including myself, other people, and experts who voiced their opinions doubt he will have much responsibilities soon as people simply don't want him in power). He also called for restoration of the internet, and that the government needs to listen to their people and that the people have rights for freedom and other basic human rights, etc.

Tanks have rolled in after police stations and government buildings were burned down by angry rebels. The national museum was damaged as well and partially looted by some opportunists. The army is protecting landmarks and not acting against the people, but at the same time not really joining them either.

At this point there are at least 24 people dead, hundreds imprisoned and over a thousand wounded. Thankfully it isn't as aggressive (in terms of casualties) than most other revolts, but deaths are deaths, and one was caught on tape and posted on Youtube here (caution - the guy gets shot dead, so if you have a bad stomach you shouldn't watch probably).

More and more things are unraveling and hopefully tomorrow they will escalate again - personally I am in deep support of the Egyptian people and feel great pride in them right now despite not being related to Egypt in terms of heritage at all. I support revolutions such as these, and I believe they did the right thing of turning violent when a peaceful sit in didn't work. I personally hope that the president is taken down - and I also doubt he will stay up, as the president has "lost credibility" over the years and especially now with the shut down of the internet and mobile phones when people demand their rights (the reason I quoted that as that is what was stated by an expert on Al Jazeera news, I couldn't really have put it better).

Anyway that's it for now, long post but it's been quite a day of watching this closely and supporting the folks over at Egypt. Simply hoping to spread the word as most news networks here in the US and even in Europe aren't reporting much, very late also, and sometimes inaccurate information.

Cheers, and if you can, spread this around (facebook, twitter, anything). People should be more aware of things like these.

Yes. This is one of the few news stories I have been following. Most of the countries in the middle east have a potential to end up with what the egyptian government (dictator) is facing. My hope is that outside sources are not influencing the proceedings too much. We'll see what happens. I hope for as little bloodshed as possible.

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When I'm not in my right mind my left gets kind of crowded.

So far the Egyptian people do not want outside interference and Robert Gibbs I believe (whitehouse representative) said that they should and will handle it on their own. So hopefully noone will get involved and it doesn't look like they will right now.

Mubarak just appointed a new VP and PM but neither of them are wanted by the people. The army seems to be trying to enforce the curfew now which isn't good, and I hear that in Suez things are getting tense and that people are actually starting to follow it.

Yeah overall these sorts of domestic problems are best hammered out by the people who live there. I don't understand why folks living thousands of miles think that now they know how to fix things. IF people are will to put their lives on the line to protest and take the consequences..more power to them.

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When I'm not in my right mind my left gets kind of crowded.